Rotary brushes



Oct. 31, 1967 I E, L OUSBERG 3,349,423

ROTARY BRUSHES Filed Feb. 16, 196e 4 sheets-sneer 1 IN VENTOR.

ET l ENNE LOUSBERG Jmwgmfm RNEYs AT T Oct. 31., 1967 E. I OUSBERG l` 3,349,423

ROTARY BRUSHESl Filed Feb. '16, 196e 4 sheets-sheer a INVENTOR.

ETIENNE LOUSBERG Mm@ 09M, m/d

ATTORNEYS Oct. 31, 1967 E. LousBERG ROTARY BRUSHES 4 Sheets-Sheet E Filed Feb. 16, 1966 mvENToR ETI ENN E LOUSBERG BY i@ j "9 ATTO'NEYS E. LOUSBERG ROTARY BRUSHES 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 A Filed Feb. lr6, 1966 INVENTOR ETIENNE LO'USBERG Mmmm ATTO EYS United States Patent O Claims -T he present invention concerns improvements to rotary brushes of the type comprising at least two diskshaped parts mounted, with an interval in between, on a rotary shaft, and fitted with a certain number of removable strips bearing bristles in such a way as to form, each one of them, a component unit of the brush proper, said strips being inserted in grooves cut in the rims of the disks.

Rotary brushes of this type are currently used for the cleaning of conveyor-belts, the brushes being arranged in such a way that their bristles brush the surfaces of the belts whilst the latter are running.

As the bristles subjected to this type of work, even though they are made of nylon, metal or some other lasting material, wear out relatively quickly, provision must be made for the removal of the strips, and this in the simplest possible manner.

Up to now, such strips have been kept in place in the grooves of the supporting disks or hub by means of locknuts or other similar devices that, whilst ensuring a very eicient fastening of the strips in their grooves, nevertheless implied a rather lengthy stripping down, and a pretty high cost-price, due to the large number of nuts to be unscrewed.

The invention aims to remedy these drawbacks through providing a rotary brush the strip-brushes of which can be rapidly replaced with a minimum of handling and a much lower cost-price due to the fact that no screwcutting has to be carried out and no screws are to be fitted in the disks, which automatically entails a decrease in manpower-hours.

The design of the rotary brush along the lines of this invention willv render possible its uses in numerous fields of application in a wide range of sizes, the cleaning of conveyor-belts being only one of its many possibilities.

According to this invention, a rotary brush of the general type as specified above is characterized by the fact that the support disks of the strip brushes consist of two circular plates with grooves cut in their edges to receive the strips and of one piece of elastic material at least fitting between the two plates and with similarly disposed grooves, means being provided to bring the plates `closer together after putting the strips .into place, so as to cause the elastic material to expand .against or around part at least of the base of the strips, thus providing pressure of said material against the strips in order to lock these in the grooves of the disks. The elastic material may also be circular shaped and present grooves in its edges, similar to the grooves cut in the rims of the plates.

In a particular application, both the plates and the elastic material making up the disks have a central hole of a dimension corresponding to that of the rotary shaft, so that they can be slid straight onto this shaft, and that the elastic material will expand not only towards and around the base of the strips, but also towards and around the rotary shaft itself.

In another application, the elastic material part is made up from a certain number of separate elastic elements fitted between two plates constituting a support disk, and this in such areas of the plates as are comprised between the strip-receiving grooves.

In yet a further application, the elastic material part is a ring-shaped one the outer edge of which lies ilush with the bottom of the strip-bearing grooves, the elasticity thus being effective only against the base of the strips when the plates forming the disk are being brought closed together.

In yet another, and preferential, application, at least one of the two disk-plates is iitted with two lateral collars on its face pointing towards the other plate when assembling the parts on the rotary shaft, one of said collars surrounding the central hole in the plate, the other one set ush with the rim of the plate, the elastic material part being of such dimensions as to fit in between the two collars, so that when the two plates are being brought towards each other, the elastic material can only expand towards and around the base of the strip-brushes and lock these into place, the two collars preventing both inward and outward expansion of the elastic material element, so that the whole of the expansion has its effect against the base of the strips.

Better yet is the application in which both plates of the disk are litted with two collars each of which points towards the other when assembling the parts on the rotary shaft, so that the elastic material element is held firmly between the collars on both sides and that the expansion has its effect only against the base of the strips.

More details and characteristics of the invention will appear out of the description given hereunder as a nonrestrictive example and with reference to the drawings attached.

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of a rotary brush with invention applied to it.

FIGURE 2 gives a partial view of a support-disk of the type used with the brush shown in FIGURE l (without lateral collars).

FIGURE 3 shows a disk-plate as in FIGURE 2.

FIGURE 4 is an end view of another type of brush with invention applied (with lateral collars).

FIGURE 5 shows a cross-section View along plane V-V of FIGURE 4.

FIGURE 6 is a partial elevation view showing a plate bearing separate elastic elements, said view being taken along plane VI-VI of FIGURE 7.

FIGURE 7 is a partial cross-section view of two plates making up a strip-brush support disk, said view being taken along plane VII-VII of FIGURE 6.

FIGURE 8 is a partial view of another variant of application, said View being taken along plane VIII-VIII of FIGURE 9.

FIGURE 9 is a partial cross-section view taken along plane IX-IX of FIGURE 8.

FIGURE 10 is a variant of application of the arrangement as in FIGURE 6.

FIGURE 11 is a variant of application of the arrangement as in FIGURE 8.

The strip-brushes that can be used in all applications of the invention are all those usually found in the trade, amongst others strips the base of which is made up of U-shaped strip-metal, the bristles being doubled by passing around a stiff wire. In the following description, we will more particularly consider strip brushes with a trapezoidal cross-section base.

The rotary brush as shown in FIGURE 1 `comprises a rotary shaft 1 on which are slid four support-disks 2 bearing strip-brushes 3 fitting into the grooves 4 of said disks. The strips shown here are straight ones. It is to be understood that the invention can be applied just as well to rotary brushes the strip-brushes of which are of a different shape, a helicoi'd one, for instance. In the latter case, the grooves are to be designed accordingly.

The disks shown in FIGURE 1 are made up of two plates and 6 (see FIGURES 2 and 3) with grooves 4a, and between which is placed an elastic material part 7 showingy similar grooves 4b. The strips 3 in FIGURE 1 have a base the cross-section of which is Vof the same shape as the 4a and 4b grooves, that is to say a trapezoidal one, although other shapes may be taken into consideration.

In between the disks 2 in FIGURE 1, space-casings 8, 9 and 10 are provided for on shaft 1, and beyond the two terminal disks, provision is made for two more casings 11 and 12. The strip-brushes being slid in the grooves 4a and 4b of the plates and of the elastic material element of the various disks 2, it will suice to tighten the two end-nuts 13 and 14 to cause the interval separating plates 5 and 6 of each disk 2 to be reduced, and consequently, to cause the expansion of the elastic material part 7 all around the base of the strips, thus applying pressure against the base of the latter, so that the strip-brushes are kept rinly in place.

In the application according to FIGURES 1, 2 and 3, the expansion of the elastic material part 7 also works towards the rotary shaft 1 so that the locking into place of disks 2 on this shaft can be obtained even if the shaft is a round-section one and if plates 5 and 6 and part 7 present a corresponding circular central hole. In any case, the locking of disks 2 on the shaft is also ensured by the tightening of the terminal nuts. A non-circular hole, a hexagonal one, for instance, may of course be provided for plates 5 and 6 and elastic part 7, with a corresponding hexagonal section for that part of the shaft 1 on which disks 2 are mounted, as for instance, the hole 15 in FIGURE 3 illustrates it.

Instead of one of the nuts 13 and 14, a fixed stop or stop-screw may of course be provided on shaft 1, so that a single nut only would have to be tightened at one end of the brush in order to lock the strip-brushes 3 into place in the grooves of disks 2.

Thus, the elastic material part 7 expands radially towards the shaft 1 and towards the periphery, the tightening of the strips in the grooves being ensured by the outward expansion. Considering that in the case of a shaft 1 with a non-circular cross-section, the expansion of part 7 towards that shaft is, in fact, unnecessary in order to keep the disks locked on the shaft, and as, furthermore, part of the expansion outwards is lost through the fact that the elastic material 7 compressed between plates 5 and 6 during the tightening of the end-nut or nuts may freely expand outwards at the periphery of said plates 5 and 6, provision may be made, most of all in the case of large brushes, for an expansion of the elastic material part 7 limited to pressure all around the base, trapezoidal or other, of the strip-brushes 3. This will allow a lesser tightening of nuts 13 and/or 14, since as soon as these nuts are getting tightened, the whole of the expansion of part 7 will have its effect around the base of the strips without any loss of expansion in other directions.

It is a realization of this type that is shown in FIG- URES 4 and 5. For these illustrations, a rotary brush has been considered comprising two disks 2 slid on a shaft 1 with a partially hexagonal section, a space-casing 8 being provided between the disks. Beyond disks 2, two more casings 11 and 12 have been provided, and beyond these casings, two end-nuts 13 and 14 screwed on threaded parts of shaft 1. One of these end-nuts 13 and 14 may also be replaced by a fixed stop, so that the tightening of one single nut will suice to lock the strip-brushes 3 in their grooves 4. It will, however, be generally preferable to provide for two end-nuts 13 and 14 so as to allow a tightening action at both ends of the brush. In the present case, each disk 2 is made up of two plates 16 and 17, each one of them with two collars, one outer one 18 and one inner one 19 around shaft 1, the collars facing each other two by two.

The elastic material part 7 is designed to such dimensions that it fits perfectly between collars 18 and 19 on the two plates 16 and 17. It is easily understandable that when the plates 16 and 17 are brought towards each other, the elastic material part 7 will not be able to expand towards shaft 1, being stopped from doing so by collars 18. The expansion, therefore, will only take place all around the bases -of the strip-brushes 3, and the elastic material will thus press strongly against the base of said strips in order to keep them tightly locked into place.

The mounting of the strip-brushes is therefore a very short-time operation, seeing that as soon as they are slid into place in the grooves of the support-disks, it suffices to tighten one or two nuts to lock them. In the same way, to take them out, it is sufficient to unscrew these nuts to stop the expansion of the elastic material so that the strips can be easily removed from their grooves.

It is worth mentioning that all the constituting parts of the disks may be used on brushes of various lengths, that is to say brushes with various numbers of support disks and strip-brushes of various lengths. As a matter of fact, only the shaft 1, the strips 3 and the number and length of space casings 8 are to be altered.

It is obvious that the plates 16 and 17 with their collars may be designed differently and yet ensure the same effect. Thus, for instance, one only of these plates may be fitted with collars 18 and 19, the other one retaining an even surface. Or else, the outer collar 18 of one of the plates may he so designed as to slide externally over collar 18 of the other plate. Or else again, only one of, or both, the outer collars 18 of the plates must be provided for, both the inner collars being dispensed with.

Lastly, it has been observed that on rotary brushes, wear on the bristles fitted to the strips 3 appears sooner around the middle of these strips when looking at them lengthwise. This is more particularly noticeable when these brushes are used for the cleaning of conveyor belts. In order to remedy this irregular wear, and this is the case for ordinary rotary brushes as Well as for brushes to which the invention has been applied, one may provide for shorter brush components 3a as in FIGURE 1, inserted in between longer brush components. For instance, as is shown by FIGURE 1, an alternation of longer and shorter components may be provided, or even a staggered arrangement. In this manner, the central area of the rotary brush (taken lengthwise) will be more densely supplied with bristles than the outer areas and the wear the brush components are subjected to will be more evenly distributed.

Variant shown in FIGURES 6 and 7 supposes the use of two plates 20 and 21 that, together, make up a supportdisk for strip-brushes 22 to be slid into grooves 23 shown by plates 20 and 21.

Here, however, instead -of a one-piece elastic material part as in the previous examples, separate elastic elements 24 are used, arranged between the two plates 20 and 21. As shown in FIGURE 7, one such single elastic element can be tted to one of the two plates.

These elastic elements are kept in place by any adequate device, for instance by radial ribs, by glueing, etc. It is easily understood that when plates 20 and 21 are being'brought closer to each other after putting into place of strlps 22, the separate elastic elements 24 will undergo a certain expansion and will, therefore, lock strips 22 into place by exerting pressure against lateral faces 25 and 26 of said strip-brushes. In the present case, therefore, only a lateral tightening of the strips will be achieved.

When the area of the plates comprised between two successive grooves is a rather extensive one, two distinct elastic elements 24a and 24b, both exerting their pressure along the edges of two adjacent grooves 23 can be provided for, as shown in FIGURE 10. Said elements 24a and 24b can also be fixed to the plate or plates by any adequate means and they can, furthermore, be maintained in place by radial ribs 27 of said plate or plates.

As shown in FIGURE 7, the elastic ele-ments 24 tit in between two collars 28 and 29 on plates 20 and 21.

Applying the invention as shown in FIGURES 8 and 9, one single ring-shaped elastic part 30 has been provided for, fitting into a recess 31 in at least one of the plates and/or 21. When `said plates are being brought closer together in order to lock strips 22 into their grooves 23, it is immediately seen that the expansion of said elastic element 30 can only take place radially and at the spot where the element is left free, that is to say at the base of each of the grooves 23. In this particular application, it is of course necessary that the grooves 2 3 be of trapezoidal cross-section, or else have curved sides.

Instead of a continuous ring-shaped elastic element 30, in order to achieve an economy of material in the case of large disks, distinct elements 30a may be used under each groove 23.

In the various cases described above, instead of using continuous strip-brushes tted to several support-disks, several sectionsl (lengthwise) of strip-brushes may be used, which eventually allows a staggered disposition of said strips, and which makes, mainly in the case of large rotary brushes, for a better distribution of the bristles over the whole peripheral area of the brush.

In all the cases mentioned above, the strips considered have trapezoidal section ones, thus strips having to be slid into the corresponding grooves in the various disks. It is obvious that if the strips lused have a square or rectan-gular section base, a radial insertion of these strips into the disk grooves may be provided for. It must furthermore -be noticed that the shape of the strips base is of no importance in fact, as the principles of the invention are always of appli-cation whatever the type of section used.

It will of course be understood that the application of the invention is not limited to the few examples described, but that many variants may be applied without departing from the scope of the present invention.

I claim:

1. Rotary brush of the type comprising at least two disk-shaped parts mounted at some distance from each other on a rotary shaft and carrying, in grooves cut in their rims, a certain number of removable strips fitted with bristles so as to form, each one of them, a brush component, and characterized by the fact that the support disks of the strips are made up of two circular-shaped plates with grooves cut in their rims for the purpose of receiving the strips, and of one elastic material part inserted between the plates and showing similar peripheral grooves, means being provided to bring the plates nearer to each other so as to cause, after the putting into place of the strips, the expansion of the elastic material around the base of the strips and a pressure of said material against said strips in order to lock the latter in the disks bearing them.

2. Rotary brush as claimed in claim 1, characterized by the fact that the elastic material part is also circularshaped and shows peripheral -grooves similar to those of the plates.

3. Rotary brush as claimed in claim 1, characterized by the fact that the elastic material part is made up of a certain number of separate elastic elements, arranged between two plates composing a support-disk, and this in the areas of the plates comprised between the grooves provided for receiving the strips.

4. Rotary br-ush as claimed in claim 3, -characterized by the fact that separate elastic elements are provided for on the inner face of each above-mentioned plate.

5. Rotary brush as claimed in claim 3, characterized by the fact that the separate elastic elements are fitted between a lateral peripheral collar on one or both plates and a shoulder or another collar encircling the opening in one or both plates.

6. Rotary brush as claimed in claim 3, characterized by the fact that each separate elastic element occupies the area between the adjacent borders of two successive grooves of one or both plates.

7. Rotary brush as claimed in claim 3, characterized by the fact that each area between the adjacent borders of two successive grooves of one or both plates receives two distinct elastic elements, both of which elements being laid -flush with the border of each of the successive above-mentioned grooves.

8. Rotary brush as claimed in claim 1, characterized by the fact that the elastic part is made up of a continuous ring-shaped piece, or a discontinuous one, the periphery of which lies sensibly flush with the bottom of the strip-grooves, elasticity being effective only against the base of said strips when the plates forming the disk a being brought closer to each other.

9. Rotary brush as claimed in claim 8, characterized by the fact that a distinct elastic element is provided for underneath each groove.

10. Rotary br-ush as claimed in claim 1, characterized by the fact that the plates and the elastic material part making up the disks show a central opening corresponding in -dimensions with those of the rotary shaft, so as to slide directly onto this shaft, the expansion being carried out not only towards and around the base of the strip-brushes, but also towards and around said shaft.

11. Rotary brush as claimed in claim 1, characterized by the fact that the plates and the elastic material provided between .these plates show a non-circular opening, hexagonal for instance, with di-mensions correspon-ding to those of the outside of the rotary shaft.

12. Rotary brush as claimed in claim 1, characterize-d by the fact that one at least of the constitutive plates of the disk is tted with a lateral collar set flush with the outer edge of said plate, on the face opposing the other plate, the grooved elastic material part being of such dimensions as to iit between the collar and the shaft, so that, when the plates are being brought nearer to each other, the expansion of sai-d elastic material can only work towards the shaft and all around the -base of the strips in order to lock the latter into place.

13. Rotary brush as claimed in claim 12, characterized by the fact that each plate making up the disks shows an outer collar, both of which collars pointing `towards each other when the parts are being mounted on the rotary shaft.

14. Rotary brush as claimed in claim 1, characterized by the fact that one at least of the component plates of the disk is tted with two lateral collars on its surface opposed to the other plate when mounted on the rotary shaft, one of said collars circling the central opening in the plate whilst the other one is set ilush with the outer edge of lthe plate, the elastic material part with grooves 4being of such dimensions as to fit perfectly between the two collars, so that when the two plates are being brought closer to each other, the expansion of said elastic material part can only exert itself all around the base of the strip-brushes in order to lock these strips into place, the two collars preventing said elastic material part to eX- pand radially both inand outwards, so that the full expansion exerts itself against the base of the strips.

15. Rotary brush as claimed in claim 14, characterized by the fact that each component plate of the disks bears two collars, said collars pointing towards each other when mounting the parts on the rotary shaft, in Such a manner that the elastic material part -be firmly held between these various collars and that its expansion can only exert itself against the base of the strips.

16. Rotary brush as claimed in claim 1, characterized by thefact that lthe grooves cut in the plates and in the elasticrnaterial parts are of square, rectangular, trapezoidal or any other section, the strip-brushes presenting a base of corresponding section, whether these strips be straight, helicoidal or of any other shape.

17. Rotary brush as claimed in claim 1, characterized by the fact that the support-disks of the strip-brushes are slid onto the rotary shaft with a space casing, one device at least, such as a nut, for instance, being moved along the shaft in order to bring the plates nearer to each other.

18. 4Rotary brush as claimed in claim 17, characterized by the fact that a nut is provided at both ends of the: brush mounted on its rotary shaft, so that the bringing nearer to each other of the disk-plates can be carried out by simultaneous action on the nuts placed at both ends of the rotary shaft.

19. Rotary brush as claimed in claim 17, characterized by the fact that only one nut is provided at only one end of the brush assembled on its rotary shaft, so that the bringing nearer to each other of the disk-plate can be carried out through tightening said nut, the brush being held tight at its other end by a fixed stop or la stop-screw.

20. Rotary brush as claimed in claim 1, characterized by the fact that the strip-brushes are designed and provided in several longitudinal sections, which eventually allows the staggered mounting of said strip-brushes on their support-disks.

21. Rotary brush of the type comprising at least two disk-shaped parts mounted at some distance from each other on a rotary shaft and carrying, in peripheral grooves, a certain number of strips fitted with bristles so as to form, each one of them, a brush component, and more particularly a rotary brush component, as claimed in claim 1, characterized by the fact that the brush components are of different lengths, a shorter component being provided between two longer ones.

No references cited.

CHARLES A. WILLMUTH, Primary Examiner.

PETER FELDMAN, Assistant Examiner'. 

1. ROTARY BRUSH OF THE TYPE COMPRISING AT LEAST TWO DISK-SHAPED PARTS MOUNTED AT SOME DISTANCE FROM EACH OTHER ON A ROTARY SHAFT AND CARRYING, IN GROOVES CUT IN THEIR RIMS, A CERTAIN NUMBER OF REMOVABLE STRIPS FITTED WITH BRISTLES SO AS TO FORM, EACH ONE OF THEM, A BRUSH COMPONENT, AND CHARACTERIZED BY THE FACT THAT THE SUPPORT DISKS OF THE STRIPS ARE MADE UP OF TO CIRCULAR-SHAPED PLATES WITH GROOVES CUT IN THEIR RIMS FOR THE PURPOSE OF RECEIVING THE STRIPS, AND OF ONE ELASTIC MATERIAL PART INSERTED BETWEEN THE PLATES AND SHOWING SIMILAR PERIPHERAL GROOVES, MEANS BEING PROVIDED TO BRING THE PLATES NEARER TO EACH OTHER SO AS TO CAUSE, AFTER THE PUTTING INTO PLACE 